Tricks or Treats
by mayetra
Summary: Thor and Loki journey to Midgard to partake in the festival known as Tricks or Treats or at least Thor calls it thus. Gen Fic, Young Loki, Thor & Jane  NO SLASH


_A/N: This is set in an AU (Marvel Multi-verse) where Thor and Loki were born later so that they are younger during modern times. They are the equivalent of 10 year old humans (though probably older in Asgardian years). I tried to keep the character as canon as possible but some OCC may occur for story line purposes. This was written for CM Write Club Halloween 2011 Challenge which was having characters go trick or treating. I don't own these characters, I make no money from this story._

"Brother! There you are," Thor called out as he burst through the doors to Loki's room. His young face was animated with excitement and his blue eyes sparkled with the anticipation of an adventure. "Edvald has been telling me about this festival and I think we should go experience it for ourselves."

Loki peered at his brother from over the book he was reading. While he was always up for a bit of mischief, he was cautious about any plans Thor concocted. The last "adventure" his older brother dragged him along on had ended with their mother sentencing both of them to scrubbing pots in the kitchen for a week. To make matters worse, he had been forbidden to use any magic to help the task along. But to be fair, they had caused a fair amount of mud to be spattered all over her solar.

Still, curiosity won out. "What festival would that be," Loki asked feigning disinterest.

Thor paused a moment searching his memory. "Ah I cannot remember exactly but there were treats to be had and monsters." He made a dueling motion with an imaginary sword as if he were battling one of these "monsters". "Tricks or Treats is what Edvald said," he finished with a flourish.

Loki was sure that his brother's tutor had said a great more than that but unless it had to do with the art of war or some reward Thor tended to tune Edvald out. He carefully slid the bookmark onto his page before setting aside his book. "I have never heard of any festivals of this nature here in Asgard. Perhaps it is a remote village that I have not heard of before?"

Thor looked uncomfortable as he answered. "It is a Midgardian celebration."

"Have you taken leave of your senses, Brother? We are much too young to journey to Midgard. Father has forbidden it and will never grant permission." Loki knew that Thor had no intention to ask their father for permission but it wouldn't do for Loki to even suggest such a thing.

"I had not suggested that we ask him," Thor said with a shrug.

Loki ran long fingers through his dark locks. He leaned forward and in a hush voice said, "We would never make it past Heimdall. He sees everything."

"Funny he could not see who cut Sif's hair," Thor retorted.

"I had naught to do with that," Loki snapped. Which was a lie but no one could prove it and he would continue to deny it. "However, I imagine it was magick that was used to obscure his vision so I suppose I could discover the spell with a bit of research."

Thor grinned. "Of course you can, Brother, you are most clever with bookish things. And using that knowledge we shall journey to Midgard and have an adventure."

"What shall Father say upon our return," Loki asked, still not convinced. He worked hard enough to gain their father's approval since he wasn't cut from a warrior cloth such as his brother.

"Have courage," Thor said, thumping him on the back. "We shall have a grand adventure with much reward. Father shall see that we are might warriors and that Midgard holds no threat for his sons!"

"Very well," Loki said with a sigh. Once Thor got his head wrapped around an idea, he was impossible to persuade otherwise. "When does this festival begin?"

"A fortnight, plenty of time for you to find the spell and for me to come up with a plan to distract Heimdall away from the gate."

Thor caused a backup in the sewage system that caused everything to overflow at once. Loki had to admit it was a devious distraction, crudeness aside it was one worthy of his own clever mind. Perhaps he was rubbing off on his brother a bit.

With the castle in an uproar, Loki cloaked himself and Thor making them invisible to everyone but themselves. With Heimdall turning his attention to the castle and a possible attack based on such a widespread disaster, the two young boys slipped past him into the observatory.

"Now what," Loki hissed at his brother.

Thor pulled a dagger from his waist and slid it into the slot to activate the gate. "Father's," he said at Loki raised brow.

There was a whirring followed by a shout from Heimdall but before he could do anything Thor and Loki were whisked down to Midgard.

"Can you veil us while making us visible to the humans?" Thor asked.

Loki snorted, "Child's play."

They were deposited on the outskirts of a small Midgardian village. They walked toward the cottages they could see lined up in the distance. It was dark by time they reached their destination. The cottages were made of wood and stone. Strange lanterns were hung from tall poles which shed light across a road made of black stone. Strange metal beasts sat resting along the road but no matter how many times Thor hit them with his sword, they made no movement.

The young brothers wandered down one of the stone pathways in front of the cottages. Many of the homes were lit up with light and decorated with strange things. Some had buried their dead right in their front lawns while others carved faces into pumpkins. What they first took as miniature monsters, they soon realized were actually Midgardian children. They were dressed as princesses, monsters and other strange beings.

"What exactly did Edvald say about the monsters," Loki asked his brother with a sigh.

Thor, who was fondling his sword hilt with something akin to regret, answered, "I do not remember exactly, only that there were many monster about on this evening."

Loki glared at his older brother and resisted the urge to turn the stone beneath his feet to quicksand. "Let me guess after he said monster you did not bother to pay any further attention because you were too busy daydreaming about the glory you would receive once you slaughtered them!"

Thor gave Loki a sheepish look that spoke volumes.

"Who are you supposed to be?" a female voice asked from behind them.

The boys spun around to see a young girl standing there looking at them expectantly. She was dressed in a pink dress that fell to her knees and was covered with some sort of sparkling glitter. Her long brown hair was pulled up in a bun and decorated with more of the glitter substance. Her brown eyes studied them curiously. There was a pair of pink fabric wings strapped to her back.

"I am Prince Thor, son of Odin All-Father," Thor announced proudly, puffing out his chest. "This is my younger brother, Prince Loki."

"Oh, is that a movie or something?" but before the boys could say anything, she continued, "My name is Jane. I wanted to be a NASA Astronomer but my mother thought it would be better if I went as a fairy. Do you live around here?"

"We are just visiting," Loki answered.

"We have come to join the festivities and get treats," Thor added with a large grin.

"Where are your bags?" Jane asked

"Bags?" Thor asked. He hadn't given much thought to how he was going to carry home his rewards. Details were not his strong suit.

Loki, however, pulled out to small pouches that were folded up in his pocket. He figured he would enlarge them with magick if they needed more room.

Jane looked skeptically at them. "You won't be able to carry much with those. Hold on a minute. I'll be right back."

She ran up a small path that led to the house they were standing in front of and disappeared inside the front door. She returned a few moments later with two white bags with blue writing on them. She gave one to each brother. "Those should do just fine."

The bag was constructed of a material that Loki had never seen before. It moved like cloth except that there was no discernable weave and it made an awful noise as you moved it about. The blue writing turned out to spell the word "Wal-Mart". Perhaps it was the way these Midgardians identified themselves; Jane daughter of Wal, Wal son of Mart. Inside were a couple of brightly colored items that Loki assumed was some sort of Midgardian treat.

"Come on," Jane called as she marched up the pathway to the next cottage. She didn't even bother to wait to see if the boys would follow her.

She was a bossy bit of goods, Loki thought to himself as he quickly followed after her. Had they not been in desperate need of a guide, he would have turned the treats in the bottom of her much nicer cloth bag into snakes.

"Trick or treat," Jane called out after pushing a small button.

"Hello, Jane," the woman who answered said with a smile. "You are the prettiest fairy I've seen tonight. Who are your friends?"

"Thor and Loki," Jane answered.

"Those are wonderful costumes, where did you get them?" the woman asked as she dropped candy from the bowl in her hands into their awaiting bags.

"These aren't cos-" Thor started to say but was cut off by a sharp elbow from Loki.

"Our mother made them for us," Loki finished smoothly with a bright smile.

"Thank you for the candy," Jane said turning down the pathway.

"Yes, thank you," Loki added, dragging Thor along with him. They started to go up the path to the next cottage but Jane stopped them.

"No, that's old man Carter's house. He's really mean and never gives out candy," Jane explained. "If the house lights are out that means no one is home or they don't have any candy to give out." She seemed to have some instinctual sense that Thor and Loki had no clue what was going on. Yet with the adaptability of the young, she merely accepted this without a word.

"Shall we trick him then," Loki asked with a gleam in his eye.

"No," Jane answered curtly, giving him an indignant look. "That would be rude." She continued up the street.

Loki scowled after her. What was the point of trick or treating if you didn't get to do tricks? He'd read up on Midgardian customs for this occasion and knew that playing tricks was done. It was to be expected even, no matter how unpleasant for the trickee. Who was he to buck tradition?

He pulled a bar of soap from the small pouch at his waist. The pouch had taken him six months to imbibe with magic but it had been worth it. It now held much more inside that it should thanks to the inter-dimensional pocket he'd created. Concentrating on the soap, he waved his hand over it and then gestured at the house. The soap shrunk in his hands as the pristine windows all over the house became cloudy with soap residue. Satisfied he'd done a proper Halloween prank; he returned the soap and ran to catch up with his brother and Jane.

They continued this way for a while, getting treats and Loki hanging back to prank houses that provided none. Besides candy, they were given Midgardian coins made of copper called pennies, shiny packets of something Jane called toothpaste and writing instruments called pencils. Loki was looking forward to using the latter and traded Thor several pieces of candy for his.

The metal beasts provided another source of interest. One rolled by with several humans inside and Thor pulled his sword in preparation of charging the beast. Loki managed to hold him back. He'd been surreptitiously studying the metal contraptions as they walked past them and realized that they were a type of conveyance. Seeing one in motion had only confirmed his theories. He really wanted to take one back to Asgard to study but Thor, still suspicious of them, refused to help so he abandoned the idea – for now.

Jane had led them through a circular route and Loki could see the road where her home stood in the distance. He was glad because his legs were beginning to get a little tired. He wanted to levitate for a while but thought it might draw too much attention to them. After all, there was still Father to deal with once their little adventure had concluded and it wouldn't do to stir up the natives too much.

As they walked, hitting the last few houses, Thor began to dig through his bag looking for something to eat. Pulling out a chocolate bar, he slung the bag on his wrist and started to open it.

"You should really wait until your parents check that," Jane told him. "You could get poisoned or something. My friend's cousin went to school with this boy whose sister got an apple with a razor blade in it."

Thor dropped the now offending piece of chocolate back into his bag. "There is no honor in hurting younglings through trickery," he announced with a deeply offended tone. "Why would anyone wish to do such a thing?"

Loki, who wasn't beneath a bit of trickery, agreed with his brother; some things just weren't done.

Jane shrugged. "Some people are just sick."

Thor glanced over at Loki who said, "Best we have Heimdall look things over first."

"Or you could just give your bags to us and you won't have to worry about bad candy at all," said a rough voice.

The voice in question belonged to a young teenage boy with bad hair and even worse acne. He stepped from the shadows followed by two minions. Loki thought they were rather adequate as far as minion go, having beefy shoulders and slightly blank looks. All three were dressed in black with hooded jackets.

"You heard him, hand over the bags," said Minion #1 said in a menacing voice that didn't quite convey the tone of someone with an original thought. He punctuated his order by grabbing Jane's bag and tugging.

Jane, despite the pink fru fru fairy dress, was made of sterner stuff than the average nine year old. She certainly wasn't afraid of a meat-head teenage thug twice her size. She pulled back, yelling, "Let go, Stupid Head."

Thor, being a semi-trained warrior of honor, did not draw his sword but simply dropped his bag of candy and threw himself bodily at the lead villain.

Loki sidestepped into the shadows and threw up a rudimentary illusion of himself. The darkness hid most of the imperfections and Minion #2 ended up sprawled on the walkway after he lunged at it.

Jane had lost her battle for her bag but was still fighting the war. She latched onto the boy's arm with both her hands and sank her teeth into the wrist clutching her candy haul.

Thor managed to knock his opponent off his feet. The teenage boy might be much larger but Thor was much stronger due to his Asgardian nature. He began pummeling the boy in the face while berating him about honor and attacking girls and/or weaker boys, not that he'd ever call Loki weak to his face. But this was the heat of battle and Thor wasn't thinking about feelings or those other things his mother was often concerned with.

Loki transformed some of the smaller branches from the main one overhanging the walk into lengths of woody rope and hung his opponent up out of the way. Ignore the horrified screeches; he moved on to help Jane with her war against Minion #1.

Thor finally let his opponent up and the boy promptly scrambled to his feet and took off. He turned to assist Jane and found that she had wrestled her bag back. Loki was watching with an amused look waiting to assist should the little mortal need it. He released Minion #2 who joined Minion #1 in running away.

"Well met!" Thor roared with approval over Jane's victory.

Loki poked around into the darkness where the boys had been hiding and found several bags piled in a heap. They had not been the villains' first victims. Whispering a soft spell and taxing his skills to their limits, he enchanted the bags to return to their owners. Jane was distracted with retelling her battle to Thor and missed the bit of magic, which was just fine.

Flush with victory, the three continued their march back to Jane's cottage. They walked her to the door.

"Thank you for guiding us this night," Loki said politely, with a slight bow.

"You have the makings of a great warrior, even if you are a girl," Thor added, patting her shoulder. "I shall remember you in the tales of my adventure this eve."

"Sure," Jane said with a slightly confused look. "See ya," She turned and went into the house.

The walk back to their landing place was uneventful and the boys were very tired. So tired, that Loki had dropped the veil hiding their presence from Heimdall's all-seeing eyes.

"Heimdall, open the gate," Thor called.

Nothing happened.

"Please," Loki added.

Still nothing.

"This might be a problem," Loki said sourly.

"Heimdall, as Prince of Asgard, I demand you return us! Now!"

Loki winced.

There was a flash of light and they were returned to the observatory. It was not Heimdall who stood waiting for them but their father. He didn't say anything but stared at them, with his one eye. One was enough; Loki could feel the waves of disapproval wafting their way.

"Well, Thor, Prince of Asgard, explain to me why you have journeyed to Midgard despite my having forbidden it?"

Thor visibly swallowed. Loki's silver-tongue quickly tarnished the carefully crafted excuse evaporating.

"Well, I'm waiting."

"We went to participate in the Midgardian festival of Trick or Treating because I was under the impression that there would be monsters to slay and rewards to be had," Thor rambled in one breath.

Loki resisted the urge to add, I went for the tricks. He didn't feel it would help their situation any.

"Yet in doing so you defied me, your father and your king."

Thor gave his father a serious look. "There comes a time in every boy's life when he must push past the boundaries that his father has set before him and embark on adventure that will help mold him into a man. Tonight was just a time for me and Loki."

Loki glanced over at his brother, his jaw slightly open. Perhaps there were Midgardian monsters and one of them had possessed his brother.

Odin raised one brow, the slight hint of a smirk on his lips. "I see and did this adventure of yours work toward said molding?"

"Most certainly, Father, we vanquished villains and gathered rewards."

Odin sighed. "Your mother was very worried especially since you hid yourselves from Heimdall." He glanced at Loki who managed to maintain an innocent look. "She has suggested a week mucking out the royal stables to curb your disobedient tendencies."

Both boys groaned at this announcement.

"But tonight," Odin said with a hint of mischief in his eye, "you must tell me of all your adventures and share those treats you have. I especially like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups." He winked at them, adding, "Just do not tell your mother. She will be very cross to learn I am snacking so late after dinner. Feels that I will gain too much weight if I do not curb my late night snacking."

He held out his hands which Thor and Loki grabbed willingly. Together they journeyed home regaling their father with tales of their adventures which Thor only slightly exaggerated.

The End


End file.
